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England give Graeme Swann the nod

Ishant Sharma bowls during a training session in Kanpur, India, yesterday. India play England in a one day international today and lead the seven-match series 2-0. PHOTO: AFP

England have called up off-spinner Graeme Swann for today’s third one day international to revive the tourists’ flagging fortunes after two heavy defeats.

Mahendra Dhoni’s home team outclassed England by 158 runs and 54 runs in the first two one-dayers to grab a 2-0 lead in the seven-match series that precedes next month’s two Test matches.

Swann is likely to play for the first time in the series on the dry Green Park pitch after being short-listed in the 12 announced yesterday.

The Nottinghamshire spinner, 29, has claimed 14 wickets in 12 one-dayers since his debut in 2000.

“As a spinner, you always look forward to bowling in India,” Swann said. “If I get to play, I hope there will be some turn in the wicket.”

Swann said he was confident England will bounce back by winning today.

“As a side, we have been a bit unlucky,” he said. “Yuvraj Singh was not in form when the series started, but he batted superbly and is hungry for runs.”

“We also have two very good hitters in [Kevin] Pietersen and [Andrew] Flintoff and though they have not fired on all cylinders, I hope they will tomorrow and we will win the match,” he said.

Left-arm seamer Ryan Sidebottom, who missed the first two matches due to an Achilles problem, will once again sit out after feeling pain in his lower back.

Middle-order batsman Ravi Bopara missed training yesterday due to a stomach ailment, but is expected to be fit for the match.

India, meanwhile, were hoping Yuvraj will continue his form after scoring match-winning centuries in the first two matches.

He hit 138 in the first game in Rajkot and followed that with 118 at Indore on Monday.

“I hope he scores his third consecutive century here,” Indian captain Dhoni told reporters yesterday.

“On song, Yuvraj is simply one of the best, even the top bowlers struggle against him. He is in great touch,” he said.

Meanwhile, the emergence of Ishant Sharma as a strike bowler and the resurgence of Zaheer Khan have given India’s bowling an edge and made the team potential world beaters, senior Test batsman VVS Laxman said.

Fast bowler Sharma took 15 wickets and his new ball partner Zaheer took 11 on docile home pitches this month to record India’s first Test-series victory over top-ranked Australia in seven years.

“We’d never seen such kind of bowling on flat Indian pitches by Indian pacers. That was one of the reasons why the Australian batsmen were under tremendous pressure,” Laxman said in an interview.

“The two contributed to half of the dismissals. That’s been huge as we have always relied heavily on our spinners,” said the wristy 34-year-old batsman, who became the eighth Indian to play in 100 Tests during the series.

Zaheer and the 20-year-old Ishant struck early blows and then troubled Australian batsmen by reverse-swinging the old ball, backing spinners Harbhajan Singh, Amit Mishra and Anil Kumble, who tallied 32 between them.

“We’ve never bowled so well in tandem. The pressure was put by both the pacers and spin bowlers and right through. This was the first time I saw, and the team saw, we put pressure even on the scoring rate of the opposition,” Laxman said.

Sharma, who stands 1.93m tall and has a high-arm action, poses problems for batsmen with his ability to get the ball to lift disconcertingly from a length.

Zaheer, 30, has been leading India’s attack since his renaissance as an international strike bowler early last year after a stint in English county cricket.

“To become the No. 1 one Test side we’ll have to win consistently,” Laxman said.

“We’ve done well in recent times but there were one or two series when we didn’t play to our potential,” he said, referring to the Test series defeat in Sri Lanka in August that led to a nationwide debate about whether the time was up for senior players.

“We definitely have got the talent and potential to become the No. 1,” Laxman said.
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